Client Spotlight: Why Powerlifters Need To Learn About Technique & Programming With Stephanie Tracy
A coach’s job is to educate a lifter on safe and effective barbell technique, maximize strength and muscular development, help ensure goal attainment through appropriate programming and technique, provide support throughout the process, and ultimately keep people happy and lifting for years to come.
But it takes two to tango! The athlete plays an essential role in the success of the coaching experience. An athlete’s transparency, communication, and knowledge is always a huge asset for a coach as they provide the pieces to the puzzle to help the coach optimize everything. The more knowledgeable and insightful the lifter is, the more effective a coach can be for them.
Stephanie Tracy: a long-time PRS client, USAPL Referee, Cookie Connoisseur, and competitive powerlifter, sheds light on the benefits of being insatiably curious about all things strength training and powerlifting!
She consumes as much information as she can in strength sports and has found value in having trusted sources at Progressive Rehab & Strength to filter information and learn from firsthand. As a curious athlete, she highlights some valuable lessons that all athletes, coaches, and clinicians would be remiss not to take home:
Knowledge of movement principles provides you confidence when executing lifts in training.
A deep understanding of the WHY behind programming decisions AND technique provides you with tools to deviate if necessary and decreases anxiety and risk of injury.
Investing in yourself makes the process of reaching your goals that much more enjoyable.
Being an active participant in your journey helps strengthen your relationship with your coach.
As a USAPL ref, she witnesses a lot of great lifts but also very poorly executed or failed lifts, which has solidified how important technique and programming are when your goals are to perform well on the platform.
As Steph states, “we owe it to ourselves not to 100% rely on a coach to ensure that we’re optimizing our potential and reducing our risk for injury.”
If you’re ready to become a next-level lifter, or a coach’s ideal client, invest in your sport long-term, and fall in love with the process - Stephanie has already done all the work for you; all you need to do is listen to this podcast.
Resources:
Become a student of your sport and learn more about Barbell Coaching & Movement Optimization here
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:00:49] Steph, thank you for joining us. We think it's really interesting that we just had our monthly client Q&A yesterday. You're always there except for the time that I was left alone. But you're usually always there. You always have very insightful questions to ask and observe what's going on in the sport. You do a lot of reading about different things and then come to us with questions. And you're a client, not a coach. But you observe everything going on and then really participate in these discussions.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:01:27] I also want to point out that Steph is a ref. So we'll have Steph give us a little introduction. But as you're talking about all this stuff, I'm like, "Wait! She's a USPL ref also!" Which kind of ties it all into what we're talking about today. So.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:01:44] Yeah. So, we just love that you are a very active participant.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:01:49] We love it!
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:01:50] In everything and the sport. You take in all this information, process it, and have questions about it, which is what we should all be doing with anything in our life. Not just our training. So thank you for joining us. But our first question is, just tell us about yourself, your history, barbell training, and what you do.
Stephanie Tracy: [00:02:18] Well, I've been lifting for about nine years. I'm not sure if I've quite hit the ten-year mark yet. It's one of those things that I don't remember until I dig out the oldest of old log books, and I look at the date when I first started tracking things, starting strength style. Still, I became interested in powerlifting through a random article in a Men's Health magazine.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:47] Men's Health. I think it would be a little different today.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:53] Yeah, that's true.
Stephanie Tracy: [00:02:55] But it was an article that was mostly like, "your gym is not helping you" kind of article where it was like all the things that are pushed on people at a regular commercial gym are not the things that will make you a stronger person. And it was the writer's exploration of different endeavors. Some of them in the gym, like weird balance-based things on a Bosu ball, blah blah blah. And then started to explore other things, including powerlifting, and started meeting other people who were strength athletes or other kinds of athletes that needed a lot of strength to be successful, like mountain climbing or things like that. And basically, it was someone who was like, I go to the gym all the time and work out all the time, and my butt was kicked perpetually by all these other people who don't waste their time doing these things that I do at the gym, and instead, they do these other things to prepare. And one of the resources at the end was the Starting Strength book for anyone interested in powerlifting. And I was like, "Oh, this is very interesting. I am interested in this powerlifting," and I got ahold of the book, read through it, and then just started trying to apply it myself. I remember the first few sessions when trying to do things on my own. I realized, "Okay, wait! I don't remember exactly what the book said about where my hands should be," So I was already immediately aware of what I didn't remember and had to look it up again. So as I was starting on my own, I would keep going back to the book to reread certain sections to double-check that I did remember this kind of thing or see anything I missed out on. And after a couple of years of that, doing things on my own, I started getting a little bit of coaching in Brooklyn, New York, but nothing like regular, nothing that was a coach working with me all the time. It was like once a week. I would be at one of the powerlifting gyms where someone would keep an eye on me. But most of the time, I was still working on my own, and I started to get some lower back injuries with some kind of regularity, like maybe once a year or maybe twice a year. And I just didn't know what was going on. And that's when I became aware of Rori from the local powerlifting scene and saw her at some competitions. And so I just knew generally about her, and I'd seen her around, and I knew her background in PT, so I got her email address and reached out to her first. I think my first approach is, Oh, I feel like I'm stalling on squats and deadlifts and wanted to see if I could have some consultation with you. And I had mentioned some lower back SI joint while, at the time, I didn't really know it was the SI joint, but I did mention some frequent issues, and that's when we started working together for PT for a few months, and I really enjoyed that and so stayed on as a client. And so I've been with PRS ever since, which is something like almost six years.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:06:11] Yeah, isn't that crazy? Yeah, we calculated the number of weeks because we keep track of that. So that's interesting because we've been working together for six years, but I didn't know your entry point into all of this. I'm not surprised to hear your story like this. You were reading something, then you researched it, got into it, and were very self-sufficient. And despite working with me as your physical therapist and now coach, we're no longer in rehab mode anymore, obviously. But what we love about you and want to talk about in this podcast today is that you're a student of your sport. And I think most people don't. I think people learn from watching videos. You know, they find a template, and they execute a template. But in all my years working with Powerlifters and barbell athletes, especially people who work with coaches. I have never worked with someone as inquisitive and who has spent as much time as you have to learn about the sport. But before we dive into that, what led you to become - so you're not a coach, but you've read a lot. I'm sure you listen to podcasts regularly. You're always coming to our monthly coaching calls with questions from observations you've made in the sport. You see some person perform a new exercise or a new exercise that has become very popular. You ask us about it; why are they doing this? When does when is that appropriate to use in a program? When is it not appropriate? Why are people doing it and all that stuff? But I'm curious to learn more about why you became a ref. You're not a coach. You're a ref. So tell us a little bit about that process.
Join our Facebook Community for free form checks, live Q&As & more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PRS.Barbell.Mastery
Got questions or guests you'd like to hear on the show? Submit them here: https://forms.gle/7Vu2HmgHoeQY9xM59
Get in touch with the show!
Web: https://www.progressiverehabandstrength.com
Email: podcast@progressiverehabandstrength.com
Rori IG: @rorimegan_prs
Alyssa IG: @alyssahope_prs